Rejecting Trump plan 'would be a tragedy'

IT WOULD be a tragedy for Scotland if Donald Trump's ambitious plans for a £1 billion golf resort on a protected stretch of the Aberdeenshire coast are rejected, the tycoon's counsel claimed yesterday.

Colin Boyd, the former Lord Advocate, told the inquiry into the controversial project that the country was "seldom presented with such an audacious proposal".

In an impassioned appeal to government planning reporters to back the scheme at Menie links, Lord Boyd said: "You only have to be in the presence of Donald Trump to understand its ambition or to walk the site to understand its scale, or to stand where the 13th tee will be to appreciate its grandeur.

"In my submission this truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We will not see its like again. It would be a tragedy for Scotland if we let it pass by."

Speaking on the final day of the four-week-long inquiry at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, he added: "It is an inquiry which the applicants did not seek and would not have desired. Nevertheless it has resulted, in my submission, in an unprecedented level of scrutiny for an application."

Mr Trump's plan, he said, was to develop a major golf resort on a scale never seen before in Britain, centred on an "exceptional world-class" course on the Menie links in Aberdeenshire – a setting of high-quality landscape and environment.

The development, he said, would bring very significant economic benefits not just to the North-east but to Scotland as a whole.

But in order to achieve Mr Trump's vision of building the "best golf course in the world" it was vital to use the land within the Foveran site of special scientific interest (SSSI). The back nine holes of the main championship course would be laid out within the shifting sand-dunes in the SSSI. Lord Boyd said: "I accept that the development will have significant adverse effects on the qualities for which the area has been designated but I submit that these are clearly outweighed by economic benefits of national importance."

The applicants, he argued, had not sought to hide or massage the impacts of the development on the environment, and they had sought the advice of leading experts about the potential impact of the scheme.

"A more unscrupulous dev-eloper might have tried to obtain more pliable advice but that has not been the applicants' approach," said Lord Boyd.

He said Mr Trump's vision and the position of the Trump Organisation had been clear from the beginning. "If the applicants are to realise the vision of an exceptional world-class course underpinning £1 billion of investment then the championship course needs to use the SSSI," he told the inquiry. "To say that is not to refuse to compromise – it is a statement of principle and fact. Mr Trump made his position clear in his precognition when he said that the bottom line was that if he was refused permission to develop on the southern end of the SSSI he would withdraw from the development as it would not and could not fulfil his ambition…"

The inquiry reporters are expected to make their recommendations to Scottish ministers by late August or early September. The Trump development comprises two championship golf courses, a 450-room hotel, 1,000 timeshare apartments, 36 golf villas and 500 homes.

Sand-dunes landscape 'crucial' to Menie bid

DONALD Trump has made it clear from day one that the shifting sand-dunes in the Menie site of special scientific interest are key to his dream of creating the "world's greatest golf course" in Scotland.

He argued that without the spectacular landscape of the mobile dunes his main championship golf course will not be worth building at Menie and that he will simply walk away from the plan.

The land in the site of special scientific interest (SSSI) is "critical" to the development and it is critical to the development because of the scale of investment involved.

The Trump Organisation also maintains that this is an application where the social and economic benefits are of national importance and override the adverse environmental impacts.

Mr Trump insisted that he plans to minimise or mitigate the impact of the development where possible. Less than 10 per cent of the total SSSI area would be directly affected and two-thirds would not be affected at all.

It is also planned to "translocate" the habitats by stripping turf from protected areas and moving it elsewhere.

The tycoon has received the backing of Aberdeenshire Council and local business leaders, including Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce.

They have all argued that the scheme is of national importance, will bring up to 1,200 jobs to the North-east of Scotland and will help the area diversify from its oil dependent economy and-establish it as a major world destination for golfers.

Danger of colossal damage for the region

AGAINST

THE proposed Trump development will cause "colossal and needless" environmental damage at the Menie Links, according to the main environmental groups opposing the scheme – RSPB Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

If the tycoon is given the go-ahead to construct his course on a protected stretch of the Aberdeenshire coastline such a decision could prove potentially disastrous for Scotland's global environmental reputation and send out a "dangerous" message that Scotland is prepared to wantonly destroy its most precious natural assets.

Environmental campaigners claim that the mobile sand dune system at Menie is the most extensive example of a dynamic dune system in the UK and of unrivalled national ecological importance. Precious environmental assets must be protected.

The main purpose of designation as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) is to defend nationally important areas against damaging developments and would be severely compromised by approval of the Trump scheme.

A spokesman for the organisations said: "All we want now is for ministers to consider what is best for Scotland, not simply for the applicant, and to stand by their repeatedly stated strategic goals of delivering sustainable economic growth that puts this country's environment at its core.

"If they decide this development should go ahead, they can issue a consent which avoids development in the legally protected SSSI while still allowing the rest of the proposal to be built."

They said it – exchanges in the battle of words

If somebody else had applied, they would have gotten it a lot easier than me. The celebrity and all of this media and craziness is probably a liability for me. But it's an asset for the area and for Scotland. Everybody is talking about this course all over the world."

Donald Trump

"The value of the Menie links as part of the Foveran SSSI cannot be overstated. It is, quite simply, the jewel in the crown of the SSSI areas of bare sand in this area of Scotland and, therefore, the jewel in the crown of the UK resource."

Dr Jim Hansom, a former member of the scientific advisory committee of Scottish Natural Heritage

"If you have a development such as this, then you have the prospect of not only rooting companies in the area, but also attracting others to come and locate their headquarters – perhaps their global headquarters – in this area."

Anne Robertson, the leader of Aberdeenshire Council

"The applicant had behaved very unusually towards the council and effectively demanded the surrender of the planning system."

Councillor Martin Ford

"Allowing the development as proposed would be tantamount to killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Approving the destruction of Menie links contravenes almost every planning policy, environmental policy and government strategy in the national canon.

"We do not believe that leisure developments of this kind should, or need to be at the expense of environmental assets of the highest value."

Jonathan Hughes, the head of policy for the Scottish Wildlife Trust